Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-09-02
THE REAL LINCOLN.
Intimate Recollections and An
ecdotal "reminiscences
Mr.. Lincoln's Strange Presertiments-Cu-
rious Dreams at Critical functions,
and His Singular philosophy
Concerning Them
BY WARD II. LiMON.
Copyrighted. 1887, by w I'd IL. Lamon Al
rights rcscrved)

own Patmos Revprv.' saws the great
French thinker. fixes its rae upon the
shadow until there ISSUES from it light.
Some power that is very high has ordained
il thus. - Mr. Lincoln had his Patmos. his
'kinship with the shades:n and this is. per-
hans. the strangest feature of his character
That his intellect was mighty and of cxuui-
site mould: that it was of q severely logical
cast; and that his reasoning powers were
employed i'm the main, ON matters eminent
" practical. all men know who know any
thing about the real Lincoln.
The father of modern philosophy tells us
that "thc master of superstition is the peo-
pie: and in all superstitions wise men follow
fools" Lord Bacon. however. was not UNI
willing to believe that storm might be dis
persed bv the ringing of bells a superstition
that is not vet wholly dead. even in coun-
tries most distinguished by modern enlight-
eminent Those whom the great Englishman
designated ''masterS of superstitiOn-foolSn
were the common people whose collective
wisdom Mr.. Lincoln esteemed above the
highest gift of cultured men. That the
E'PatmosN of the plain people as Mr. Lin
coin called them, was his. in a large measure,
he freely acknowledged; and this peculiar
itv of his nature is shown in his strange
dreams and presentimen's which sometimes
elated. and sometimes disturbed him in a
very astonishing degree
From early youth he seemed conscious of
a high mission. Long before his admission
to the bar. or his entrance into politics. he
believed that he was destined 20 raise to
great height that from a lofty station to
which he should be called he would be able
to confer lasting benefits on his fellow men.
He believed. also that from a lofty station
IA r,n Il. /
and of gloom which was confirmed in his
mind by the dreams Of his childhood, of his
youthful DAYS. and of his mnturer years.
The plain people with whom his life was
spent and with whom he was in cordial sym
pathy. believed also in the marvellous as re
vealed in presentiments and dreams: and so
Mr. Lincoln drifted on through years of
toll and exceptional hardships struggling
with noble spirit for honest promotion
meditative aspiring, certain of his star hut
appalled, at times by its malignant aspect.
Many times prior to his election to the pres
idency he was both elated and alarmed by
what SCENE to him rent in the veil which
hides from mortal view what the future
holds. He saw. or thought he saw,a vision
of glory and of blood, himself the central
figure in a scene which his fancy transform
ed from giddy enchantment to the most APP
palling tragedy
But it is my purpose in this paper to confine
myself to the strange dreams and present
iments which Mr. Lincoln had while he oc-
cupied the White House. | shall give them
as | heard them from his own lips, together
with such cautious comments as he chose to
make. As one story reminds him of an
other, so anything belonging to the occult,
or of a character which placed it within the
of al, I1..l TO,
mind something alike remarkable. if con-
nected in any way with his own experience
On the day of Mr. Lncon's renomina-
ton Mt Baltimore he wa enga ged at the war
department in constant telegraphc COM
munication with Gen. Grant then in front
of Richmond throughout the day he
seemed wholly unconscious that anything
was going ON at Baltimore in which his in
terests were in any way concerned. At
luncheon time he went to the Whit. H0uso.
swallawel q hasty lunch and without enter
ing his private oilir. hurried back to the
war office. On arriving at the war depart
ment the arst dispatch that was shown him
announced the nomination of Andrew John
son for vice president. '''This i, strange
said he refectively: II thought il was usual
to nominate the candidate for president
first. His informant was astonshcd. Mr.
President said he. "have YOU not heard
of your own denomination? IT was tele-
graphed to You at the White House two
hours ago ~ Mr.. Lincoln had not seen the
Dispatch had made no inquiry about it
had not so much as thought about it.
On reflection Mr.. Lincoln attached great
importance to this singular occurrence. 1t
reminded him, he said. of an omiuous Incl
dent Of mysterious character which occurred
Just after his election in 1860. 1t was the
double image of himself in a looling-plass
which he saw while living on a lounge in his
own chamber at Springfield. There was
Abraham Lincolns face rejecting the full
glow of health and hopeful life. and i'm the
same mirror, at the same moment of time.
was the face of Abraham Lincoln showing
ghostly paleness. On irving The e.peri
ment at other times. as confirmatory tests.
the illusion reappeared and then vanished as
before.
Mr. Lincoln more than once told me that
he could not explain the phenomenon. that
he had tried to reproduce the double re